Well, It's been an exciting first 10 days. I could not possibly talk about everything I have experienced but here are some of the highlights:
If you think you cannot possibly take the oppressive 96* heat with 80% humidity for even one more minute, just wait. The children do the chicken dance and all is well in the world.
I taught the kids to do the hokey pokey. Without saying anything about it, they all giggle wildly when we "put your bottom in and shake it all about".
Maybe the rest of you make hay while the sun shines, but in Haiti you tend to move a little slower when the sun shines. However, when it rains you better bet your bottom dollar this girl runs out and dances in the sweet wetness as it washes the dust from my face and arms and feet!
It's funny, the Haitians are very superstitious about the rain. I was letting some of the children put their hands in the rain and one of the ladies told me that they had always heard it was bad to go in the rain, that it will make you ill. I told her that when I was a child I remember that dancing in summer rain was one of my favorite things to do.
We celebrated birthdays for two of the children: Samanza turned 9; and Lowinsky turned 22.We ordered a cake from Epi D'oh. The young lady in the cake place seemed confused when I asked what flavor the cake was. The first cake was mocha raisin. I said no way because I remembered the children don't like raisins in their oatmeal. When I mentioned this to one of the older girls she laughed and said they would like raisins in cake, it's just they don't like it in the oatmeal. Funny kids! The second choice was weygan with marshmallow. Mr. Alain, the director, was with us and helping with interpretation. He wasn't familiar with this flavor so it was a gamble. Turns out it was coconut in a type of yellow cake. It was VERY heavy, but very yummy!
At dinner time I presented Samanza with the birthday crown generously donated by Melanie Spranger of Let 'Em Be Little in Madison Heights
www.letembelittle.com . She makes custom decorated crowns. She can be contacted at letembelittle@gmail.com If I discover her website I will add it here. I met her during a craft fair in Mt. Clemens, MI and when I mentioned that I was going to Haiti for the year and what I planned to do with the birthday crown tradition started by my BFF, she offered to provide a birthday crown gratis.
The children love story time and DVD movies and singing. They cannot get enough. Some of the stories keep them in rapt attention and some fall on dead ears. It just depends. They have such limited exposure that some things don't make sense to them. But don't despair too much. You would be amazed at the things they pick up! One of the boys loves to break out in these gangsta rapper hip-hop poses. It's enough to crack you right up! But the stories are their favorite. The older girls, and some of the boys, help me interpret them so the little ones can understand. Some of them are very good at acting out the stories.
The other day, I read Tap-Tap to the children. It is a story about a Haitian girl and her mother taking fresh oranges to the market. The girl is excited because she is finally old enough to go with her mother but she is disappointed because she wanted to ride in a tap-tap, which is a type of mini-bus used as a share-cab in Haiti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_tap . This book was purchased by my dear friend, Pat Hill, owner of Bodhi Seed Yoga and Wellness http://www.bodhiseedyoga.com/ The children really enjoyed this story. The older girls liked it so much they borrowed the book to read again and have been passing it around ever since.
So, I hear former prezo Cigar Smoker is in town. I think that must be why we have electricity. That is fine with me. I hope he stays until November!
That is all for now...stay tuned for more!
